Use multiple platforms to share single focus

Published on June 11, 2010.

In January, Paul Bascobert took charge as president of Bloomberg Businessweek. Bascobert, who was previously CMO for the Consumer Media Group of Dow Jones & Co., took the helm two months after Bloomberg L.P. acquired the Businessweek brand from McGraw Hill Cos. In April, Bloomberg Busi-nessweek unveiled a major redesign, with 20% more editorial than the previous incarnation offered.

Media Business:How do you intend to boost circulation to support the additional editorial in Bloomberg Businessweek?

Bascobert: We think there's a need out there for better business coverage, and the feedback we were receiving was that the value proposition was not working. Readers wanted more for their money, so we're going to deliver better quality and quantity. We like the audience we have and expect to grow the individually paid portion of our circulation.

MB: Bloomberg Radio recently introduced Bloomberg Businessweek Radio. Are there similar programs in the pipeline combining the magazine's content with other Bloomberg assets?

Bascobert: Absolutely. I expect [we will be] moving the Businessweek brand across the Bloomberg platform and vice versa. Radio is one; TV, but also geographically. Bloomberg is in 76 different countries, so I would expect to see [the brand] making its way into Europe and Asia in a much bigger way.

MB: Do you foresee offering more vertical opportunities for advertisers through combining Businessweek content with Bloomberg's?

Bascobert: If you think about a large b-to-b advertiser who's trying to win over a large account, we probably talk to the CEO and CFO through our terminal(s) and the CEO, CIO and head of operations through Businessweek. So if you look around the table at a b-to-b decision-making group, by virtue of our portfolio of products, we touch all of them in one form or another. That's the power of our audience focus. —M.S.